Carl becher



(No Mdel.)

. BECHER. FLY TRAP.

No. 474,514. Patented May 10, 1892.

| I l "I /NI/ENTOH @050, WVM/Q E UNTTED STATES ijATnNT Omron.

CARL BEOHER, OF NEV YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JACOBMOSKOVITZ, OF SAME PLACE.

FLY-TRAP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 474,514, dated May 10,1892.

Application led February 23I 1892. Serial No. 422,332. (No model.)

To @ZZ when?, t may core/cern:

Be it known that I, CARL BEOHER, a citizen of the Empire ofAustria-Hungary, anda resident of New York city, in the county and Stateof New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inFly-Traps, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has reference to an im proved ily-trap of that class inwhich the ilies are rctained by means ot' an adhesive substance onsurfaces coated with the same; and the invention consists of a iy-trapcomposed of a base, a rod attached to said base, a reservoir for theadhesive substance with which the rod is to be coated, a drip-cup belowsaid reservoir, said scraper being provided with a radial slot for theconvenient detaching of the same from or applying it to the rod, as willbe fully described hereinafter, and finally pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l represents avertical centralsection of my improved iiy-trap. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of thesame, showing the scraper in the act of removing the flies trom the rodcoated with the adhesive substance, and Fig. 3 is a top view of thedetachable scraper, shown as removed from the rod.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

Referring to the drawings, A represents the base of my improved iy-trap,which base is made of a block of wood, cast-metal, or other suitablematerial. To the base A is attached an upright rod, which is preferablymade of wire of suitable thickness, a stick of wood, or of any othersuitable material. On the rod is guided the reservoir O, Which isprovided with a central opening in its bottom and with a short sleeve s,that tits closely to the rod B and rests on a drip-cup D. The middleportion of the drip-cup D is made of conical shape, while the baseportion is made in the shape of an annular trough that surrounds themiddle portion, in which trough any of the adhesive substance thatexudes from the bottom of the reservoir is collected, so as to bereturned from time to time into the reservoir. The reservoir C is lledwith a viscous or adhesive substance of that class which has theproperty of attracting flies, mosquitoes, and other winged insects. Theadhesive substance used in the reservoir is made of such consistencythat it forms a pastelike mass, which is not liable to become dry, sothat one charge of the reservoir will be sufficient to supply the rodwith adhesive coatings for a considerable length of time-say, for thesummer season. The upper part of the reservoir O is closed by adetachable cover C', that is provided with a circumferentialoutwardly-flaring fiange d and with a central openin g CZ', which isslightly larger than the rod B so as to permit the free 11p-anddownmotion of the reservoir on the rod B.`

On the cover C of the reservoir C is supported a scraper E, which isprovided with a central conical portion and with an annular trough orbase around the conical portion, so as to correspond in shape to that ofthe drip-cup D. The scraper E is provided at the apex of its conicalportion with an opening e and with a slot e', that extends radially fromsaid opening to the circumference of the base of the scraper, as shownclearly in Fig. 3.

The scraper E serves for the purpose of removing the iiies that areretained by the ad hesive substance on the surface of the rod B. For thepurpose of removing the iies, the scraper E is taken hold of at its baseby the thumb and forenger of one hand and then passed over the rodforthe full length of the same, as shown clearly in Fig. 2. By theupward motion of the scraper the ities are removed from the rod B. ThescraperE is then detached from the rod B and cleaned by hot Water, so asto remove the flies and any of the adhesive substance carried along bythe same. The scraper E is then replaced by sliding it, by means ot itsradial slot c', closely to the cover O of the receptacle C into itsposition on the rod B, as shown clearly in l. When most of the adhesivesubstance on the rod B has been removed by the repeated removal of fliesby the scraper, the reservoir O is moved up on the rod B and thenreturned into its position on the drip-cup D before the scraper isreplaced in position on the reservoir. By this up-and-down motion of thereservoir the rod B is supplied with a coating of adhesive subst-ance,which is of uniform thickness, as the cover of the reservoir acts as ascraper for the adhesive substance and re- IOC turns any surplussubstance into the reservoir. As one removal of the flies from the rod Bby the scraper E does not remove the coating of adhesive substance, onecoating can be used for several days and the flies be removed rapidlytherefrom until the rod has to be supplied again with the adhesivesubstance.

In place of one rod which is attached to the base two or more rods maybe used, in which case the size and shape of the reservoir, dripcup, andscraper are adapted to the increased number of rods.

In a fly-trap with a single rod a cylindrical reservoir is preferable,while in a fly-trap with several rods a reservoir of oblong or othershape may preferably be used.

I am aware that iiy-traps have been made in which a base, a rodsupported on said base, a reservoir provided With a detachable cover,and a drip-cup below the reservoir are combined for use, and I thereforedo not claim the combination of these elements, broadly; but I claim inaddition therewith a detachable scraper having a radial slot, by whichthe following advantages are obtained: first, a considerable saving inthe adhesive material, as the same is not removed from the rodwith eachremoval of flies from the same, so that .one and the same layer can beused several times before the coating has to be resupplied from thereservoir; secondly, the convenience of removing the flies by means ofthe scraper, and the facility by which the same can be cleaned andreturned in position ou the reservoir, and, thirdly, the improvedappearance and more convenient handling of the dilerent parts of myimproved fly-trap.

I-Iaving thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patentl. A fly-trap composed of a base, a rod atvtached to said base, a reservoir for the adhesive substance, saidreservoir being guided on the rod, adrip-cup below the reservoir, acover for the reservoir, having a central opening, and a scrapersupported on said cover and provided with a central opening, and acircumferential trough, substantially as set forth.

2. A y-trap composed of a base, a rod attached to said base, a reservoirfor the adhesive substance, guided on the rod by a bottom sleeve, a drip-cup below the reservoir, a cover jfor the reservoir, having a centralopening and an outwardly-flaring flange, and a scraper supported on saidcover and provided with a recess extending from the center to thecrcnmference of t-he same, substantially asset forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as `my invention `I have signedmy namein pres- PAUL GonPnL, CHARLES ScHRoEDER.

